The invention relates to a boat with an electric drive and an electrical store which has at least one storage element and a positive and a negative pole, wherein the poles are in current-conducting connection with the storage element and wherein an isolating means for isolating the current-conducting connection between at least one of the poles and the storage element is provided. The invention also relates to a method for isolating an electrical consumer from an electrical store, wherein the electrical store has at least one storage element and a positive and a negative pole, and wherein the poles are in current-conducting connection with the storage element and the electrical consumer is connected to the poles.
In the event of danger or to avoid danger, it is sometimes necessary to quickly and reliably disconnect the electrical components and electrical consumers found on a boat. This is the case, in particular, if the electrical components are connected to a high-voltage source. This applies, in particular, to electrical consumers on a boat.
Therefore, the problem addressed by the present invention is to quickly and reliably isolate an electrical consumer found on a boat from the voltage source.
This problem is solved by a boat with an electric drive and an electrical store, wherein the electrical store has at least one storage element and a positive and a negative pole, wherein the poles are in current-conducting connection with the storage element and wherein an isolating means for isolating the current-conducting connection between at least one of the poles and the storage element is provided, and which boat is characterized in that an emergency stop switch, which is directly activatable by the user of the boat and is operatively connected to the isolating means, is provided.
A method according to the invention of the type mentioned at the outset is distinguished in that the current-conducting connection between the storage element and at least one of the poles is interrupted by means of an emergency stop switch.
By activation of the emergency stop switch, the current-conducting connection between the poles and the storage element is directly isolated by the user of the boat. In this way, all of the electrical consumers connected to the poles are quickly and reliably disconnected. This is important, in particular, for electrical consumers on a boat, since certain hazardous conditions prevail there owing to the wet environment and the ever-humid conditions.
According to the invention, the emergency stop switch acts directly on the electrical store and switches the poles of the store to be isolated from the supply. Hence, all of the electrical components connected to the electrical store are cut off from the voltage supply. In an embodiment, the isolating means is electrically activated. When the emergency stop switch is activated, the electrical supply of the isolating means is interrupted, with the result that the isolating means isolates the poles of the electrical store from the storage element or elements.
The invention is particularly advantageous if the electrical store is embodied as a high-voltage source. The term “high-voltage source” is intended to refer, in particular, to voltage sources with a terminal voltage of more than 60 volts, more than 100 volts or more than 200 volts.
The emergency stop switch is preferably arranged in or on the boat such that it can be activated immediately by the user in the event of danger. In the case of an outboard drive, it is particularly advantageous to provide the emergency stop switch on the housing of the outboard drive or on the tiller of the outboard drive. If the user is controlling the outboard drive using a tiller, said user is always in the immediate vicinity of the emergency stop switch and can thus very quickly activate the emergency stop switch if necessary. Alternatively, the emergency stop switch can also be accommodated in a remote controller or provided with a remote controller.
During the service life of the electric drive, repeated activation of the emergency stop switch may be necessary. The emergency stop switch and the isolating means must therefore also function properly in the case of repeated activation.
Switching an electrical isolating means under load represents an increased loading and the isolating means must be configured appropriately. The installation size of the isolating means and the costs increase when repeated disconnection under load is required.
For this reason, it is advantageous if the load is first reduced and then the isolating means is opened. Therefore, isolating elements for isolating the current-conducting connection between the respective consumer and at least one of the poles are advantageously provided for one or more of the electrical consumers. Said isolating elements for isolating the current-conducting connection between the respective consumer and at least one of the poles are operatively connected to the emergency stop switch.
The isolating means for interrupting the current-conducting connection between the storage element and at least one of the poles and the isolating element or elements for isolating the current-conducting connection between the respective consumer and at least one of the poles are therefore activated in a staggered manner over time in order firstly to reduce the load before the isolating means switches the pole or poles to be isolated from the supply.
By way of example, this may occur by temporally staggered actuation of the signal receivers by an emergency stop controller. That is to say that, when the emergency stop switch is activated, temporally offset signals are transmitted to the isolating elements and the isolating means, with the result that the isolating elements and the isolating means are switched at different instants.
In another embodiment, the isolating means and the isolating elements substantially simultaneously receive a signal from the emergency stop switch. The isolating elements and the isolating means have or are connected to control units which each have an internal delay and rearrange the switching commands into the desired sequence.
Provided an electrical consumer connected to the poles of the electrical store has an electronic controller, it is likewise possible to directly affect the electronic control of the consumer and to switch the consumer off in the event of activation of the emergency stop switch.
The use of the above-described temporal delay when the emergency stop switch is activated can reduce the reliability of the emergency stop circuit. For reasons of safety, it is therefore advantageous to additionally bring the emergency stop switch into operative connection with the voltage supply of the control units of the electrical consumers and/or of the isolating means and/or of the isolating elements, provided said control units and voltage supplies are provided. After the emergency stop switch has been activated, not only is the isolating means for interrupting the current-conducting connection between the storage element and at least one of the poles and optionally the isolating elements for interrupting the electrical connection between the consumer and the poles activated, but also the control units of the consumers, the isolating elements and/or the isolating means are switched to be isolated from the supply.
In a variant of the above embodiment, after the emergency stop switch has been activated, first the isolating elements and the isolating means are switched and the respective current-conducting connections isolated, before the control units of the consumers, the isolating elements and/or the isolating means are isolated from their voltage supplies.
The interruption of the voltage supply of the control units is somewhat temporally delayed compared with the controlled disconnection, that is to say the activation of the isolating elements and/or the isolating means. The temporal delay is advantageously ensured by the use of a further storage element for providing the supply voltage, wherein the further storage element has a defined energy content. Said further storage element may be formed, for example, from capacitors or batteries with a defined energy content. Once this energy has been consumed, the control units are also isolated from the voltage source, with the result that the consumers are safely disconnected.
Owing to the described staggering of the switching of the isolating elements, the isolating means and/or the voltage supplies of the control units of the consumers, the isolating elements and/or the isolating means, the demands on the electrical stores, the consumers and the isolating elements and the isolating means are minimized. The delay between switching the isolating elements, opening the isolating means and disconnecting the supply voltage of the isolating means or the consumers may be, for example, smaller than 100 ms.
The temporal delay of the interruption of the electrical supply of the control units of the consumers or the supply of the control unit of the isolating means is done, for example, by means of a control store with defined energy content, for instance a capacitor or a battery.
The emergency stop switch is preferably embodied as a solenoid switch with magnetic principle of operation. This applies, in particular, to a boat with an outboard drive. The outboard drive is usually embodied with a watertight housing. By using a solenoid switch, a cable bushing from the emergency stop switch, which is mounted outside of the housing of the outboard drive, to the inside of the housing is avoided. The watertightness of the housing remains ensured and is not negatively influenced by the emergency stop switch.
By way of example, a control unit is provided in the housing of the outboard drive, which control unit reacts to a magnetic field which is influenced or disturbed by the activation of the emergency stop switch. The control unit is then operatively connected to the isolating means and optionally to further isolating elements or other control units.
For this purpose, the emergency stop switch is provided, for example, with a permanent magnet. When the emergency stop switch is activated, the permanent magnet is set in a position, provided for this purpose, of the housing of the outboard drive. A sensor unit within the housing, in particular within a watertight housing, then detects that the emergency stop switch has been activated. The sensor unit may comprise, for example, a component made from a magnetically soft material which is attracted by the permanent magnet when the emergency stop switch is activated and the permanent magnet is set. Conversely, it is also possible that the permanent magnet is located inside the watertight housing and the magnetically soft component is an element of the emergency stop switch.
In another variant, a magnetic field is generated by activation of the emergency stop switch, which magnetic field acts on a control unit. Said modifications to the magnetic field or the formation of a magnetic field are ascertained by the control unit, interpreted as a signal for emergency disconnection and passed to the isolating means and/or the isolating elements which then interrupt the current-conducting connection between the storage element of the electrical store and the poles and/or between the consumer and the poles.
In another embodiment of the invention, a magnetic circuit is influenced when the emergency stop switch is activated. By way of example, a magnetic circuit is maintained inside the housing of an outboard drive during normal operation. When the emergency stop switch is activated, a magnet is brought from outside into the vicinity of the magnetic circuit and the change in the magnetic circuit which results from the change in the position of the magnet can be detected by a magnetic-field sensor, a Hall element or a Reed contact.
The reliability of the detection of a particular state of the magnetic circuit used for the emergency stop function can be increased by the use of a plurality of magnetic-field sensors, Hall elements or Reed contacts. In this case, the activation of all of the magnetic-field sensors or all of the Reed contacts is necessary in order to connect the poles in a current-conducting manner to the storage element. Conversely, that means that the deactivation of one sensor or one contact is sufficient to interrupt the current-conducting connection between the storage element and the poles and to switch into the emergency stop state.
The signals of the sensors are connected by logic such that the isolating means of the store only produces a current-conducting connection between the storage element and the poles if all of the sensors detect the correct state, that is to say non-activation of the emergency stop switch. As soon as one of the sensors detects activation of the emergency stop switch, the isolating means is actuated and the current-conducting connection is interrupted
In the case of an outboard drive, the tiller is used to control the direction and speed of the propulsion and to relay particular setpoint values to the control unit of the motor. The control unit then forwards corresponding control signals to the electric drive or electric motor in order to make it, for example, rotate more slowly or more quickly.
In the case of an outboard drive with an electric motor, a tiller and a control unit, there exists the danger that water or moisture enters the control unit via the connection between the tiller and the control unit and damages the sensitive electronics. Preferably, in the case of such an outboard drive, the tiller and control unit are coupled magnetically with respect to the signals transmitted is magnetic.
The tiller is equipped, for example, with a magnet which can change its position. This change in position can be effected, for example, by the magnet being integrated in a twist grip. The control unit for controlling the motor is operatively connected to a sensor for detecting the magnetic field of the magnet and hence for determining the position of the magnet. The control unit interprets the position of the magnet as a particular setpoint value for the control of the motor and transmits corresponding signals to the electric motor. In addition, the magnet is used to activate the emergency stop function. If the magnet is removed from its position, this is detected by the sensor, passed to the control unit and interpreted as a signal to introduce the emergency stop, that is to say the current-conducting connection between the storage element and at least one of the poles is interrupted.
The invention and further advantageous configurations of the invention are schematically illustrated in the drawings.